Xanthohumol exists in hops, which are primarily used in brewery. As a strong antioxidant, it exhibits benefits in treating diseases associated with oxidative stress, e.g., cancer and neurodegenerative disorder.
A number of methods have been developed to prepare xanthohumol-containing hop extracts for medical uses. These methods, however, have several disadvantages. For example, hop extracts prepared by hitherto known methods contain a substantial amount of iso-xanthohumol, which is undesirable for its estrogen activity, or chlorophyll, which is undesirable for its green color. As another example, when supercritical CO2 extraction is used, expensive facilities are required so as to reduce the danger of explosion.
Given the above disadvantages, it is highly desirable to develop a safe and inexpensive method for preparing from hops xanthohumol-rich compositions that contain little iso-xanthohumol and chlorophyll.